Reflection on Open Letter Draft

Nam Nguyen "GC8 WRX" January 17, 2008 via Flickr
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I commented on both Hallye and Evan's drafts which are linked to here but as far as I can tell, they both resolved all of my comments so they're no longer visible.

Now I will continue my reflection on my feedback using the Student's Guide as a guideline.

Did you demonstrate an ability to think about your writing and yourself as a writer?
I think I did demonstrate this though of course based on comments, I made improvements to this.

Did you provide analysis of your experiences, writing assignments, or concepts you have learned?
I think I did do this. I did not analyse specific writing assignments however I think I covered concepts and experiences fairly well. I think specific writing assignments are not terribly illustrative in comparison to overall trends and large scale learning.

Did you provide concrete examples from your own writing?
No I didn't and I'm about to go correct that right now.

Did you explain why you made certain choices and whether those choices were effective?
I'm unsure of what this question means but I'm going to assume I didn't do it. Speed revising here I come.

Draft of Open Letter

Robert Couse-Baker "Chevelle in the Fog" November 15, 2014 via Flickr
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I'm not really sure what I have to say about my draft other than be as critical as you like! I need good criticism.

Here is a link to my draft.

Reflecting More on My Writing Experiences

Dave Adams "William l'Anson - 1962 Jaguar E-Type at the 2015 Silverstone Classic (Photo 1)" July 25, 2015 via Flickr
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In this blog post, I will consider my writing process in light of a number of questions provided by Professor Bottai.

1. What were the biggest challenges you faced this semester, overall?
I know this question is probably supposed to be about challenges I faced in this  course but I can't think of any particular challenge I faced. Yes, the course overall was challenging but I think I got a pretty good handle on the workload fairly quickly. My biggest challenge this semester was adapting to becoming self-reliant enough in my education that I can solve my own problems when they come up as your professors are not as immediately available to help you as teachers are in high school.

2. What did you learn this semester about your own time management, writing and editorial skills?
I think I had to overall takeaways in this regard from this semester. First off, I work very well under pressure and unless I behave unreasonably stupidly, will usually come up with the required work by the deadline. The second takeaway is that when I am writing, I will do a lot better if I simply take the time to consider the rhetorical situation of the piece that I am trying to write.

3. What do you know about the concept of 'genre'? Explain how understanding this concept is central to being a more effective writer.
A genre is the constraints of a piece of writing. Genre have conventions which help readers better understand what you are writing. As a writer, your primary goal is to communicate effectively to your readers so you have to be aware of the conventions and styles of the genre you intend to write in in order to more easily communicate with your writers.

4. What skills from this course might you use and/or develop further in the next few years of college coursework?
I don't think this course did a great deal to educate me more in the mechanics of writing. However, I think that's okay. As I see it, writing is not something you get good at by watching; you have to practice. I believe the major part of what I gained from this course was good writing practice in interesting topics that we each (hopefully!) care about.

5. What was your most effective moment from this semester in 109H? 
I think undoubtedly my most successful moment this semester in writing was writing my own public opinion piece. This is because I actually published it on a car blog and the article generated a lively discussion and a number of comments. The published piece on OppositeLock (part of Kinja) can be found here.

6. What was your least effective moment from this semester in 109H?
I think my least effective moment was writing my literary analysis. I know this is not really a satisfactory explanation of why I don't like it and I got an 88% so my score was not even that bad. Somehow I am just not satisfied with that piece of writing.

Revisiting my Writing Process

Kim Benson "Gnat 1919/25" August 2, 2014 via Flickr
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I thins blog post I intend to reflect on how well I predicted my writing process as well as my time management skills at the beginning of this course.

Let's start with time management. I think college was really eye opening for me and that in a lot of ways, what I predicted at the beginning of the year was true. I have been more organized and more self-motivated than I have ever been in my life. I did not stick precisely to the schedule that I created for myself at the beginning of the year but nevertheless, I have developed a strong routine that takes care of all of my needs both academic, personal, and extracurricular very well.

My writing process, on the other hand, is very different. At the beginning of the year, I considered myself to be a heavy reviser with the desire to mix in more planning into my writing style. Essentially, I found myself to be someone who can take a load of b.s. and turn it into something presentable by revising it enough. I found very quickly this year that that is in fact not true. I don't have enough time to do that. I am much more of a sequential composer. Unless it is very explicitly required, I am fairly resistant to making a lot of drafts of my work. I think I am fairly good at writing so I simply write my initial draft more slowly and then revise it as I go.

Frankly, moving forward I see myself doing much of the same. In regard to my time management skills, I think this is a good thing. In regard to my writing process, however, I think my writing process is not necessarily bad if it works for me. To make it truly work, I should probably work to better incorporate revisions and feedback. Then I should be set.